Rod of Asclepius

[Frank Blank]

we doctors worship the Rod of Asclepius - single snake around plain pole.
not to be confused with the caduceus, 2 snakes and the rod has wings.

Mind Garden posted this in another thread, yeah the Pagan one and I thought it was interesting enough to become a separate thread, and so it is, I really wish she would elaborate on this abit more.......

as opposed to this:

Marie C said

There have been a lot of commentators who said that the Mosaic bronze serpent on a pole prefigured Christ on the cross. Just as the serpent sheds its skin to be renewed, so will Jesus live.

Marie

Hekura said:

It is so weird that that sign is so similar to the DNA double helix. It makes one wonder if medicine could have been startedly revealed to us from heavenly beings.

It also is an example of the Genesis account of Adam and Eve. A serpent told them they would be like God, knowing good and evil, if they partook of the fruit. It sounds like the myth could have been some sort of medicine that changed our dna.

FoxGlove said:

Ah-ha!The Caduceus! Not that Egyptian thingy...although Hermes is (ooh, which was it?...been awhile) Mercury? Nuts...gonna have to grab THE REALLY OLD BOOK!!

No, not the Bible...no map of the heavens in there, really...just that one really bright star!

I understand now...the difference...commerce...kinda creepy!
So the true healers worship that serpent?
Hmmm....

I hope I didn't let anybody out

By the way, I have it on good authority that Moses's staff was made from an almond tree........

+++
Frank

[Marie C]

Thanks Frank Blank, I was gonna start this one too. That is interesting that the Moses pole may have been almond wood. A Tree of Life.

Here's what I found more specifically:

Starting in the Bible (New International Version) at Numbers 21:4, the Israelites were traveling in the Sinai Desert out of Egypt towards the Red Sea. But then the people began complaining against God and Moses, about how the food sucked (I'm paraphrasing) and how water was so scarce.

(21:6) "Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.The people came to Moses and said:'We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.' So Moses prayed for the people.

(21:8) "The Lord said to Moses, 'make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.' So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

Paralleling this in the Christian New Testament is this little gem, in John 3:14-- "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man [Jesus] must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

This is hard to interpret because the original was not written in English of course, but in Hebrew (Old Testament) and Aramaic and Greek (New Testament). The "venomous snakes" attacking the people in the desert in Hebrew are actually "seraphim" meaning firey flying serpents, the same seraphim that are angels next to God seated on a throne in the prophet-shaman Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 6:2). The snake Moses lifted up on a pole is translated as "nahash": -- serpent or viper, which was also magically Moses' staff, that he could throw on the ground to transform into a snake (Exodus 4:3).

The serpent on the pole reminds me of Kundalini power rising from the base chakra up the spine through the other chakras to the crown chakra, producing spiritual ecstacy, in Hindu tradition.

The Kundalini power feels like a heat or boiling energy supposedly. Friends of mine that have taken San Pedro cactus brew tell me that they feel this same type of "boiling" heat in their bellies, and it makes them feel hot all over. They did not report a feeling of the heat rising upwards along the spine, although I just finsihed reading Martin Ball's latest book, Sage Spirit (2007, Kyandara Publishing), and he reported such an experience.

He took a hit of potentiated salvia leaf and felt "fire" starting to burn in his chest, which then rose up through his throat and out his mouth. On other trips he felt pushed about by immense cosmic serpents of endless length, each scale an emerald sage leaf.

Maybe those early Biblical folks knew something....

Marie

[crazydewman]

immense cosmic serpents of endless length, each scale an emerald sage leaf.

moving to the left
i didnt know there were reptiles here.
it was green.
and instead of scales, it was leaves. and they fell off when it moved

http://www.entheogen.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10807

crazy! kind of a hi-jack though, lol

but on the topic, i have not much to say but thats interesting for sure...

and i will have to look into that book

[moondust]

http://www.scrollsawornaments.com/605.html

[Frank Blank]

"The Lord said to Moses, 'make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.' So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man [Jesus] must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

The serpent on the pole reminds me of Kundalini power rising from the base chakra up the spine through the other chakras to the crown chakra, producing spiritual ecstacy, in Hindu tradition.

Wow, thats some good stuff there, Marie C, yes the almond staff is referring to Asherah, 'the tree of life' Moses was perhaps the greatest magician of all times second only perhaps to Jesus Christ.
The Hindu Kundalini power and the chakras predate even Moses, it seems to me that this snake on a pole is a Jungian archetype. Its usage is so old and in so many ancient cultures that it defies any particular origin.

[Foxglove]

I find the use of the offensive deity to cure the ailment very interesting.

Like using the venom to cure the bite.


The serpent symbolism is often misunderstood, I think.

I am thinking of the Mexican Revolution...a different serpent with wings symbol altogether.

Then there is that story about why Ireland has no snakes at all...

Snake charmers are a big deal in certain parts of the world.

Some Southern churches still use snakes at the alter (literally)!

I tend to think that it is shamanic in nature...
ultimately, a chief/medicine man that places antlers/ feathers/ fangs upon his head...or straps a snake on a stick and shows it off will undoubtedly gain a little shock and fear induced awe.

[MindGarden]

Another pagan angle, Apollo has been associated with healing and the Hippocratic oath starts: "I swear by Apollo-Physician. . ."

Here's a very interesting article on "the rod" from Annals of Medicine

PS: I'm a dude. My dogs a bitch, though - may have caused confusion

[Frank Blank]

PS: I'm a dude. My dogs a bitch, though - may have caused confusion

Actually it was your avatar, Doc,
anyway you said:

we doctors worship the Rod of Asclepius - single snake around plain pole.

Could you elaborate on this 'worship' not all doctors are pagan.........Initially I had this distinct impression that this Rod of Asclepius, was your personal pagan power sign, especially since you make the distinction between it and the caduceus. Looking at your initial posting on How you became a pagan, I see no pagan affiliation (not that its necessary).

Also I apologize for hijacking this subject for a separate thread, but there seemed to be alot of communal energy regarding this and your other pagan thread and thought you wouldn't mind

Frank

[Marie C]

More on the serpent, from "Serpent Symbolism in the Old Testament," By KAREN RANDOLPH JOINES. Haddonfield, New Jersey: Haddonfield House. 1974. Pp. x + 127:
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In Egypt the Uraeus was a primary serpent symbol, a snake draped over the sun disk of Horus-Ra, often crowning the heads of gods and goddesses. It meant life, immortality, and creative wisdom. Sometimes it was winged, meaning the 4 corners of the Earth. A rearing serpent signified cosmic power which jolds all things right. The throne of Tutankhamen has rearing uraei around it, each with 4 wings (in Isaiah's vison the serpents had 6 wings each around God's throne). (Hebrew and Egyptian languages are related).

Archaelogists have found many actual bronze serpents in temples in Palestine/Israel, such as at Megiddo around 1650 BC, and at Gezer; at Hazor two bronze serpents were found in the "holy of holies" in the temple, 1400 BC.
Serpent plaques have been found accociated with the old goddess Asherah.
During this phase the serpent symbolized water, healing, fertility, life, Earth, rebirth, and a goddess. A bronze serpent was placed in the temple to God of the Old Testament (Yahweh) built by David to symbolize his power of fertility. It was later thrown out as "idolatrous."

The Egyptian god Thoth had a symbol of a staff entwined by serpents, associated with healing. The Greek goddess Hygeia was represented by a serpent (----hygiene).

A caduceus is shown on Babylonian cylinders as early as the 4th millenium BC. It is shown as a bident, trident, or candelabra, held by a god or is a god itself, the eternal propagator of life through the universe.
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These serpents are all over the place, and in Christianity too-- watching tv once I recall seeing the pope in St. Peter's Basilica standing in the atrium and surrounding him on 4 sides are 4 gigantic spiralling pillars within the church, also decorated with leaves, around the altar, like giant twisting serpent-trees.

There is an old secret here. Wish I knew what it was!

Marie

[MindGarden]

frank - i think it's good you pulled this out of the other thread. yeah - my avatar is quite feminine, I just love Mucha and thought his JOB rolling papers advert was too good to pass up.

I personally don't worship the rod, I threw that word out there on a lark. I'll bet most MD's don't even know the difference between the Cadeusis and the Rod of Asclepius. Personally meaningful symbiology for me is mostly in the natural world, Mother Earth, Father Sun, water, trees - especially the Gingko, and I have been led by the spirit of the Brown Centepede.

The origin story for the Rod of Asclepius is interesting - Asclepius was attending a man recently struck dead by lightning. A serpent came into the room, and he struck it dead with his staff. Then a second serpent came in, and put some herbs into the dead one's mouth, reviving it. Asclepius followed the example and used the same herbs to revive the dead man. In gratitude to the snake's guidance he adopted the standard of the snake entwining the pole.

I've also heard the symbol was associated with healers because you can remove parasitic worms from the body by slowly winding the worms around a stick - pulling it out bit by bit.

It appears that Asclepius was an historical person, and later became woven into mythology as a son of Apollo.

The ubiquity of serpents in mythology is remarkable. Jörmungandr's gonna getcha!